Best websites for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Foreign Direct Investment is defined as investment in the production of a country by a company located in a foreign country. The vast majority of FDI is undertaken by Multinational Corporations (MNCs). FDI can be new investment in the country known as Greenfield FDI, mergers and acquisitions (or securing ownership of more than 10% of a foreign business) and the reinvestment of profits of the foreign subsidiary of the MNC in new productive capacity. There are numerous motivations behind FDI including lower labor costs, access to foreign markets, favorable taxes, overcoming tariff barriers etc. Economists distinguish between inward and outward annual FDI flows and the stock of existing FDI. Below are some of the best websites for Foreign Direct Investment data, analysis and news on the internet.

Copyright BusinessEconomics.com

UNCTAD.org/FDIdata
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has an excellent open access database for FDI flows for the period 1970 onwards both on flows and stocks. The data can be viewed either by Reigion of the World or individual countries.

UNCTAD/FDIstatistics
This url provides a direct link to several UNCTAD reports and statistics like the World Investment Report and Investment Country Profiles.

UNCTAD/WorldInvestmentReport
The above links to the World Investment Report. Each year´s Report covers the latest trends in FDI globally and analyses in depth one selected topic related to FDI and development. It has been published annually since 1991 and is downloadable for free.

IAB.worldbank.org
Investing Across Business is a World Bank Group initiative that compares the regulation of FDI around the world. There is a quantitative dataset of indicators on how laws, regulations, and practices affect how foreign companies invest in different sectors, start a businesses, access industrial land and arbitrate commercial disputes.

OECD/FDIstats
The OECD database enables you to look at the period 2000 onwards at inward and outward FDI flows by country. You can also trace to which countries the FDI flows and where the inflows come from.

OECD/FactbookFDI
This page links to the OECD Factbook area for FDI. There are figure, data and tables for both inflows and outflows as well as stocks of FDI. A great way to see useful FDI trends. There are also links to relevant OECD publications in the area.

PRI-Center.com
Run by the World Bank the PRI-Center provides a database of Web-based documents on political risk environments; on legal issues related to arbitration, mediation and other investment dispute resolution and prevention mechanisms; research findings and analyses of political risk issues and their relationship to foreign direct investment (FDI). Relevant industry news and events are also posted on the Web site.

cdis.imf.org
The Coordinated Direct Investment Survey is an IMF database that enables you to view the top sources of inward and outward FDI stocks for a country - so for example you can see the UK is the biggest FDI investor in the US.

Columbia.edu/EMGP
The Columbia University Emerging Markets Global Players website is a great resource covering country profiles of emerging markets and lots of links to research, reports, commentary and FDI analysis.

FDIintelligence.com 
This is the financial times website devote to FDI news and analysis of FDI trends. They cover the regions where FDI flows and the different sectors to which it is flowing. Unfortunately without a subscription very little is free to access.

Investmentmap.org 
Investment map provides a combination of different data on international trade, FDI, tariffs and foreign affiliated companies into an easy-to-use, interactive tool that allows analysis by country, trading partner and sector. It can be used to identify market opportunities and other information that can be used in FDI decisions such as costs, conditions and fiscal incentives. 

Bloomberg.com/FDI
The Bloomberg website has a nice section dealing with up to date FDI news, there are also accompanying videos.

Reuters.com/FDI
The above links to FDI news from the Reuters news service, it is updated daily and gives the latest trends.

Congoo.com/FDI
The above links to FDI news from the Congoo news service, it is updated daily and comes from various sources on the web. An ideal way of tracking the latest developments. 

ONDD.be/Risk
This website provides rating for countries with regard to both export risk and FDI risk. Looks at political risk, commercial risk, war risk, expropriation risk and transfer risk. We have linked to China but you can also change the country to another.

ATKearney.com/FDIconfidence
The A.T. Kearney management consultancy do an annual FDI confidence report and we link to the 2012 report. The report is based on surveys of management and its reading can be useful in predicting future FDI flows.

Economywatch.com/FDI
The economy watch website provides news stories and analysis of FDI trends and developments. There are related articles on benefits and costs, determinants of FDI flows and how to promote FDI.

Investmentsandincome.com/FDI
This website has some useful FDI commentary and also relevant links to multinationals along with a reasonable explanation of the Ownership Location Internationalization (OLI) paradigm of John Dunning.